Burner-inlet valve



June 27, 1967 J. D. SMITH 3,327,504

BURNER-INLET VALVE 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Oct. 30, 1963 INVENTOR: Q) 2\l JAMES DONALD SMITH L: BY

ATTORNEY.

June 27, 1967 J. D. SMITH BURNER-II:ILET VALVE 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 FiledOct. 30, 1963 ATTORNEY.

United States Patent 3,327,504 BURNER-INLET VALVE James Donald Smith,Stroudsburg, Pa., assignor to Ronson Corporation, a corporation of NewJersey Filed Oct. 50, 1963, Ser. No. 320,061 4 Claims. (Cl. 67--7.1)

This invention relates to cigarette lighters and similar objects of thetype filled with liquified gas, and more particularly to means that canalternately function as burner valve mean and inlet valve means.

Valves for filling the reservoirs of gas lighters or the like withliquified gas by means of a refill vessel having a connecting member arealready known in the art. Such valve means comprise generally at leastone outer or fixed member, one inner or movable member, and at least onesealing member.

Burner valves for gas lighters are also known in the art. Such burnervalves generally comprise a fixed outer member, movable inner member,gas flow throttling means between the outer fixed and the movable innermember, and shutoff means which can be selectively operated to permitthe controlled escape of gas through said burner valve.

Inlet valves of the afore-described type which are especially intendedfor filling the reservoir of a gas lighter using liquified gas aredescribed for example in US. Patents Nos. Re. 24,163 and 2,882,940.

Burner valves of the afore-described type which are situated inliquified gas lighters and are generally in communication with thereservoirs of said lighters are described for example in US. PatentsNumbers 2,620,643 and 2,561,270 and French Patent No. 787,706, grantedon July 8, 1935, and which issued in the name of M. Pingeot.

Furthermore, it should also be noted that in the past, attempts weremade to combine the inlet valve and burner valve of a liquified gaslighter into one housing. Examples of such construction can be found inthe German published patent application, No. 1,059,224. However, in theembodiment disclosed and described in the aforementioned publishedpatent application the inlet valve is situated on the bottom wall of thecasing or reservoir of a gas lighter and the burner valve is situated onthe opposite top wall of the same casing or reservoir.

In addition thereto, the prior art disclose and describes combinationburner and inlet valves wherein a fixed or flexible housing is locatedon the top wall of the casing or reservoir of a gas lighter. Thishousing serves the dual function of a burner valve housing and an inletvalve housing. However, in the prior art the various constructionsdisclose different inner movable valve members for the burner valve andinlet valve. These inner movable valve members had to be exchanged inorder to adapt the valve as a whole to function as either a burner valveor an inlet valve. Illustrative of this part of the prior art are thedisclosures in French Patent No. 923,219 in the name of Quercia, Feb.17, 1947, and U.S. Patent No. 2,608,081.

All of the afore-described constructions have certain importantdisadvantages. For instance, a standard gas lighter known in the priorart, as described above, has a burner valve which is generally mountedon the top plate of the casing of the gas lighter, and an inlet valvewhich is generally mounted on the bottom plate of the casing. Both theburner valve and inlet valve of a gas lighter have complicated precisionmanufactured parts and are, therefore, expensive to construct andassemble.

Furthermore, since the butane, propane or like liquified gases arestored in the reservoir of a gas lighter under considerable pressure,these valves must be mounted in the reservoir of the gas lighter in sucha manner that there is no gas leakage of the pressurized, liquified gasstored in the reservoir. It will be obvious to those persons skilled inthe art, that when there are two separately mounted valves in a gaslighter the possibilities of leakage are approximately increased by onehundred percent, compared with a lighter in which there is only onevalve housing. The afore-described disadvantage also exists in the typeof gas lighter illustrated in the German published patent applicationNo. 1,059,224. In this type of construction the combination inlet-burnervalve is still elaborate and complicated, despite the fact that there isonly one tubular valve housing extending through the entire lightercasing which usually supports the separate inner movable valve membersfor the inlet and burner valves. In this type of gas lighter leakage canstill occur through two different peripheral sealing surfaces.Furthermore, since there are separate inner movable valve members, thepossibilities of malfunctioning of this type of combination burner-inletvalve is not significantly reduced when compared with those knownembodiments which have separate burner and inlet valves.

The type of combination burner and inlet valve that is illustrated bythe examples disclosed in French Patent No. 923,219, Quercia, Feb. 17,1947, and US. Patent No. 2,608,081 also has important disadvantagescompared with the construction forming part of this invention which willbe described and defined below. In the last mentioned type of knowncombination burner and inlet valve, the housing for both the inlet andburner valve is mounted generally on the top plate of the casing of thegas lighter. This housing has the dual function of providingalternatively a seat for the inner movable member of a burner valve andthe inner movable member of an inlet valve. However, two separate anddistinct inner movable members are provided in this type of combinationvalve, one such member functioning as a burner valve and the otherfunctioningas an inlet valve. In normal use, the burner valve member ismounted in the housing; when the lighter is to be filled the burnervalve member must be removed from the housing and replaced by the inletvalve member. This obviously constitutes a very cumbersome method ofrefilling a gas lighter and also results in unreliable sealing of thevalve.

More recently a combination burner-inlet valve has been devised whichhas only one housing and one inner movable member and which,nevertheless, can satisfactorily perform alternatively both the functionof a burner valve and an inlet valve for a liquified gas lighter. Thistype of burner-inlet valve is disclosed, defined and claimed in theco-pending patent application Ser. No. 486,265, filed Aug. 26, 1965, nowPatent 3,277,674, a continuation of application Ser. No. 269,026, ofwhich Mr. James Donald Smith, the inventor of the instant application,is a co-inventor.

It is a general object of this invention to overcome to a certain extentthe afore-described disadvantages.

It is another general object of this invention to provide a burner-inletvalve having a more simplified and more economic construction than thosecombination burner and inlet valves of the afore-described characterwhich are known in the art.

It is a further more specific object of this invention to provide aburner-inlet valve which has only one valve housing in which there ismounted a fixed inner movable member, and which, nevertheless, canperform alternatively satisfactorily both the functions of a burnervalve and an inlet valve for a liquified gas lighter.

The invention comprises generally a burner-inlet valve for a gas lighteror the like having a fuel reservoir adapted to be filled from a refillvessel. The valve includes means defining a conduit between the interiorof the reservoir and the exterior thereof, said means having anengagement portion exteriorly thereof for engaging such refill 3,3 Q to"vessel to receive fuel therefrom and to pass fuel into said conduit, andterminating in two branches within said reservoir. Fuel conduction andevaporation means is interposed between one of said two branches and thereservoir for controlling flow of fuel in gaseous form between thereservoir and the conduit. Inlet valve means is located in the other ofsaid two branches for providing communication between the conduit andthe reservoir only when the pressure in the conduit exceeds that in thereservoir by a predetermined amount. Exhaust valve means are providedfor venting the reservoir to the exterior of the lighter, which exhaustvalve means have an actuating member separate from said conduit definingmeans and positioned to engage and to be actuated by an exterior surfaceof the refill vessel.

The novel features which are considered as characteristic of theinvention are set forth in particular in the appended claims.

Several illustrative embodiments of the burner-inlet valve constructedin accordance with this invention together with additional objects andadvantages thereof will be best understood from the followingdescription of specific embodiments when read in connection with theaccompanying drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional elevation of one embodiment of thisinvention showing the burner-inlet valve in the burner-open position;

FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view along line 2-2 of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional elevation of the burner-inlet valveillustrated in FIGS. 1 and 2 together with a refill container showingthe burner-inlet valve in the inletopen position.

FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional elevation of a second embodiment of myinvention showing the burner-inlet valve in the burner-closed position;

FIG. 5 is a plan sectional view along line 55 of FIG. 4.

Referring now to the drawings, in FIG. 1 is illustrated a burner-inletvalve having an exterior housing 1 preferably of cylindrical shape thatis screwed into a neck portion 2 of a casing 3 of a gas lighter. Awasher 4 of resilient material serves to make the connection between theneck portion 2 and the valve housing 1 gas-tight. Alternatively, thehousing 1 may be welded to the casing 3. A preferably tubular member 5filled with a sintered material 6 is secured to the underside of housing1 in axial relationship thereto. The sintered material 6 may be sinteredmetal, sintered plastic, sintered ceramic or any other suitable porousmaterial. An inner tubular conduit member 7 is usually secured in agas-tight manner to the valve housing 1. An end portion 8 of the conduitmember 7 projects from the bottom of the housing 1 into the sinteredmaterial 6 of the tubular member 5. The conduit member 7 has a conduit11 which is in communication with the sintered material 6 inside tubularmember 5 via the small aperture 9 at the bottom 10 of the conduit member7. An opening 12 at the pointed top end 13 of the conduit member 7places the sintered material 6 inside the member 5 in communication withthe ambient atmosphere via the aperture 9 and the conduit 11. The top ofthe housing 1 has a flange portion 14 with at least one pair of alignedslots 15, which are used to remove the valve by means of a special tool(not shown). A T-shaped vent valve member 16 is reciprocatably mountedin an opening or passage 17 in the housing 1. The hole 17 is locatednear the bottom 18 of the socket 19 of valve housing 1. The valve member16 has a peripheral groove 19a in which there is mounted a circularsealing washer 20 of any suitable elastomer material. A split ring 21,or equivalent means, mounted in a peripheral groove 21a around theexterior of the housing 1, urges the valve member 16 into a closedposition so that a portion 22 of the T-shaped valve member projects intothe socket 19. The split ring 21 may be of steel or any :1 othersuitable metal or plastic material that is sufliciently strong to keep agas-tight seal, by means of the washer 20, between the interior of thefuel tank of the gas lighter and the atmosphere.

A second T-shaped inlet valve member 24 is reciprocatably mounted in anopening 25 in the neck portion 23. As shown in FIGURE 1, the inlet valvemembers 16 and 21 are placed approximately on opposite sides of thevalve housing. Similar to the valve member 16, the valve member 24 has aperipheral groove 26 in which there is mounted a circular sealing Washer27 of any suitable elastomer material. A split ring 28, mounted in aperipheral groove 28a around the exterior of the neck portion 23, urgesthe valve member 24 into a closed position. Similarly to the split ring21, the split ring 28 may be of steel or any other suitable metal orplastic material that will exert just a sufficient force to keep thevalve member 29 properly mounted in hole 25 and, on the other hand,yield sufficiently to cause an unsealing of the valve member 24 when thegas lighter is being refilled via the conduit 11.

The burner-inlet valve illustrated in FIGS. 1, 2 and 3 operates asfollows:

In the burner-open position, valve members 16 and 24 seal the interiorof the fuel tank of the gas lighter from the atmosphere respectively bymeans of the seals 20 and 27. The liquified butane under pressure wetsthe sintered material 6 and ascends therethrough due to capillaryaction. The liquified butane also converts from the liquid phase to thegaseous phase while passing through the sintered material 6. Therefore,gaseous butane passes through the hole 9, the conduit 11 and finallyexits from the opening 12 where it is ignited. FIG..3 illustrates theburner-inlet valve in the inlet-open position. In this position the neck29. of a refill container 30 is placed over the conduit member 7, sothat liquified butane under pressure may flow from the interior of therefill container 30 into the interior of the fuel tank of the gaslighter (not shown). At the front end of the neck 29 a pierceableself-sealing rubber-like sealing membrane 31, well known in the art, ismounted, which forms a gas tight seal around the conduit member 7 whenthe refill container 30 is fully inserted into the socket 19. When therefill container is withdrawn, the sealing membrane 31 self-seals itselfso that no further liquified butane can escape from the refill container30. Alternatively, the well known aerosol type ofsrefill container (notillustrated) can be used to refill a gas lighter having a burner-inletvalve forming the subject matter of the instant invention. In the lattertype of refill container the opening and closing takes place bydepressing a movable neck against the action of an elastic membermounted inside the refill container. In the latter type of refillcontainer at least a portion of the inside cylindrical surface of theneck seals around the conduit member 7 when the neck of the refillcontainer is fully inserted so that the liquified butane flows from thecontainer into the fuel tank without any leakage. In FIG. 3 the neck 29of the refill container is shown fully inserted in the socket 19. Theoutside diameter of the neck 29 of the refill vessel 30 is only slightlysmaller than the inside diameter of the socket19 so that when the neck29 is pushed past the valve member 16, it displaces the latter in anoutward radial directionthereby unsealing the hole 17. The liquifiedbutane gas inside the fuel tank of the gas lighter now starts to escapeto the atmosphere causing thereby a pressure drop inside the fuel tankof the gas lighter. This pressure drop in turn causes a pressuredifferential between the pressure inside the refill container 30 and theconduit 7, on the one hand, and inside the fuel tank (not shown) on theother hand, The strength of the split ring 28 is such that theaforementioned pressure differential will cause the valve member 24 tounseal the hole 25. The liquified butane now flows from the refillcontainer 30 into the fuel tank of the gas lighter via the conduit 11and the hole 25. Simultaneously therewith, gaseous butane escapes to theatmosphere via the hole 17. The sizes of the holes and 17 are such thatthe inlet flow is substantially larger than the outlet flow. In thismanner the fuel tank of the gas lighter can be filled in severalseconds. When the liquified butane inside the fuel tank of the gaslighter has reached the level of the hole 17, the butane starts toescape in the form of a fine mist which indicates that the gas lighterhas been filled. Thereupon the refill container is withdrawn and holes17 and 25 are automatically sealed by their respective valve members 16and 24 due to the gas pressure inside the fuel tank and the pressureexerted by their respective split rings 21 and 28.

FIGS. 4 and 5 illustrate a modified embodiment of the burner-inlet valveforming the subject matter of this invention. The same referencenumerals have been used for equivalent parts in the two embodimentsillustrated in the drawings. The burner-inlet valve illustrated in FIGS.4 and 5 is shown in the closed position. In FIG. 4 a snuffer 32 is alsoillustrated. This type of snuffer is usually associated with knownautomatic types of gas lighters and is mounted about a shaft and isshown as biased against the top of the conduit member 7. A resilientmembrane is mounted inside the snuffer housing 35 between a retainingwasher 35a and a spring 3511. The instant burner-inlet valve of FIGS. 4and 5 is illustrated in the so called automatic type of gas lighter,well known in the art, in which a spring biased fingerpiece reciprocallymounted on the top of the gas lighter actuates the snuffer 32 and aflintwheel 33a into operative positions where the burner opening 12 isexposed and the butane gas exiting therefrom is ignited. It should benoted however, that other shut-off means can be used with theburner-inlet valve of the instant invention and it should, therefore, beunderstood that such other means are intended to fall within the scopeof the instant invention.

The burner valve illustrated in FIGS. 4 and 5 differs from theburner-inlet valve illustrated in FIGS. l-3 in that it includesadjusting means that enable the user to regulate the outlet flow ofbutane gas through the conduit 11. The adjusting means comprise twotelescopically and threadably mounted valve housings 36 and 37. Thevalve housing 37, preferably of cylindrical shape is screwed into a neckportion 2a of the casing 3 of a gas lighter. A washer 4 of resilientmaterial serves to make the connection between the neck portion 2a andthe valve housing 37 gas-tight. Alternatively, the housing 37 may bewelded to the casing 3. The housing 36, preferably of cylindrical shape,is shown threadably mounted inside the housing 37. A sealing ring 38, ofelastic material, is mounted in an outer peripheral groove 39 of thehousing 36. The ring 38 makes the threaded connection between thehousing 36 and 37 gas-tight. The valve housing 37 has an elongatedbottom portion 40. In the bottom 41 thereof, there is nested a ball 42of suitable metal or plastic material. A wick 44, of cotton or othersuitable material, extends through two aligned transverse openings 43aand 4317 into the fuel tank of the gas lighter. The wick 44, by means ofcapillary action, conducts liquified butane into the zone 9a where thebutane expands and ascends through the opening 91) via the conduit 11 tothe atmosphere. By axially adjusting the distance between the bottom ofthe housing 36 and the top of the ball 42 the pressure on the wedgedportion 9a of the wick 44 is adjusted and the butane gas fiowing throughhole 9b is thereby regulated.

The valve housing 36 can be axially adjusted with respect to the valvehousing 37 by means of a special tool, which is inserted into a pair ofaligned slots 1511, at the top of the housing 36. The valve housing 37,in turn, can be axially threaded into the neck portion 2a by means of asimilar tool which is inserted into a pair of aligned slots 15 at thetop of housing 37.

The valve members 16 and 24 and the parts associated therewith functionidentically to their counterparts in FIGS. l-3. The gaseous butaneescaping from the gas 6 lighter exits through opening 45 in the valvehousing 37 and the opening 17 of the valve housing 36 (-a minor amountof butane gas may also escape through openings 43a and 43b when the fueltank is nearly full).

All of the sealing members and sealing rings illustrated in the figuresand the other sealing members not illustrated that perform the same andsimilar functions in the gas lighter may be formed of a suitableresilient sheet material, for example, rubber, synthetic rubber or othersuitable elastomer. The other parts of the burnerinlet valve may beformed of a suitable metal or plastic having the required physical andchemical properties such as a certain degree of rigidity, substantialchemical inertness to the pressurized liquified gas, workability, etc.It has been found that brass and certain plastics such as delrin arewell suited for this purpose.

Although the present invention has been described in conjunction withpreferred embodiments, it is to be understood that modifications andvariations may be resorted to without departing from the spirit andscope of the invention, as those skilled in the art will readilyunderstand. Such modifications and variations are considered to bewithin the purview and scope of the invention and appended claims.

What I claim is:

1. A burner-inlet valve for a gas lighter or the like having a fuelreservoir adapted to be filled from a refill vessel and comprising, incombination: a valve housing mountable in a gas-tight manner in a wallof such reservoir and forming a socket opening exteriorly thereof;

means forming an inner conduit within and axially fixed relative to saidsocket, communicating through the wall thereof with the interior of saidreservoir, said means including an engagement portion for engaging theneck of a refill vessel inserted into said socket to providecommunication between said vessel and the reservoir;

first and second passages in said valve housing, spaced from oneanother, said first passage connecting the interior of said socket withthe reservoir and said second passage connecting the inner conduit withthe reservoir;

first and second valve members reciprocatably mounted in said first andsecond passages respectively, said first valve member extending intosaid socket such that it will be actuated by the neck of a refill vesselinserted into the socket to open the first passage;

and fuel conducting and evaporating means interposed between the innerconduit and the reservoir for passing fuel from the reservoir into theinner conduit.

2. A burner-inlet valve as defined in claim 1 wherein said first andsecond passages are on opposite sides of the valve housing and includingsealing washers on each of said first and second valve members, each forsealing its respective passage when the associated valve member is inits closed position, and first and second biasing means for urging arespective valve member to its closed position, so that when insertionof a refill vessel into the socket causes the first passage to open, thedifference in pressure between the refill vessel and the reservoir willovercome the bias of the second biasing means, allowing flow of fuelfrom the refill vessel to the reservoir.

3. A burner-inlet valve for a gas lighter or the like having a fuelreservoir adapted to be filled from a refill vessel and comprising, incombination: a first valve housing mountable in a gas-tight manner in awall of such reservoir and forming a socket opening toward the exteriorthereof;

a second valve housing forming a socket opening exteriorly of thereservoir and axially movably mounted in a gas-tight manner in saidfirst valve housing so that an interspace is formed between said firstand second housings;

means forming an inner conduit within the second valve housing socket,communicating through the Wall thereof with said interspace andincluding an engagement portion for engaging the neck of a refill vesselinserted intothe second valve housing socket to provide a passagebetween said vessel and the reservoir;

at least one passage in said first valve housing connecting saidinterspace With the reservoir;

fuel conducting and evaporating means extending from within thereservoir via said one passage to said interspace and communicatingtherein with said inner conduit;

first and second passages in the second valve housing,

spaced from one another, said first passage connecting the interior ofsaid second valve housing socket with said interspace, said secondpassage connecting the inner conduit with said interspace;

first and second valve members operably mounted in .said first andsecond passages, respectively, said first valve member extending intothe second valve housing socket such that it will be actuated by theneck of a refill vessel inserted therein to open the first passage, sothat When the second valve housing is moved axially with respect to thefirst valve housing 8 the pressure on the fuel conducting andevaporating means extending therebetween is varied, thereby controllinggas flow from the reservoir into the inner conduit.

4. A burner-inlet valve as defined in claim 3 wherein said first andsecond valve members have first and second sealing washers respectivelyoperatively mounted thereon to seal said first and second passages Whensaid first and second valve members are in their closed positions, andfirst and second biasing means respectively operatively connected tosaid first and second valve members urging the latter members into theirclosed positions.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 3,205,923 9/1965 Wilson 14l29l3,221,782 12/1965 Zellweger et al. l4l302 X FOREIGN PATENTS 227,0104/1963 Austria.

LAVERNE D. GEIGER, Primary Examiner.

E. EARLS, Assistant Examiner.

1. A BURNER-INLET VALVE FOR A GAS LIGHTER OR THE LIKE HAVING A FUELRESERVOIR ADAPTED TO BE FILLED FROM A REFILL VESSEL AND COMPRISING, INCOMBINATION: A VALVE HOUSING MOUNTABLE IN A GAS-TIGHT MANNER IN A WALLOF SUCH RESERVOIR AND FORMING A SOCKET OPENING EXTERIORLY THEREOF; MEANSFORMING AN INNER CONDUIT WITHIN AND AXIALLY FIXED RELATIVE TO SAIDSOCKET, COMMUNICATING THROUGH THE WALL THEREOF WITH THE INTERIOR OF SAIDRESERVOIR, SAID MEANS INCLUDING AN ENGAGEMENT PORTION FOR ENGAGING THENECK OF A REFILL VESSEL INSERTED INTO SAID SOCKET TO PROVIDECOMMUNICATION BETWEEN SAID VESSEL AND THE RESERVOIR; FIRST AND SECONDPASSAGES IN SAID VALVE HOUSING, SPACED FROM ONE ANOTHER, SAID FIRSTPASSAGE CONNECTING THE INTERIOR OF SAID SOCKET WITH THE RESERVOIR ANDSAID SECOND PASSAGE CONNECTING THE INNER CONDUIT WITH THE RESERVOIR;FIRST AND SECOND VALVE MEMBERS RECIPROCATABLY MOUNTED IN SAID FIRST ANDSECOND PASSAGES RESPECTIVELY, SAID FIRST VALVE MEMBER EXTENDING INTOSAID SOCKET SUCH THAT IT WILL BE ACTUATED BY THE NECK OF A REFILL VESSELINSERTED INTO THE SOCKET TO OPEN THE FIRST PASSAGE; AND FUEL CONDUCTINGAND EVAPORATING MEANS INTERPOSED BETWEEN THE INNER CONDUIT AND THERESERVOIR FOR PASSING FUEL FROM THE RESERVOIR INTO THE INNER CONDUIT.